Did Robert Kirkman Just Trick The Entire ‘The Walking Dead’ Fanbase With His ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ Announcement?

UPDATE: Robert Kirkman responded to this article not long after publication to clarify exactly what was said in the original interview. You can view his tweet below.

Recently, the Inquisitr printed the announcement by Robert Kirkman that AMC’s new show, Fear The Walking Dead, would premiere in August ahead of its companion show, The Walking Dead. But now, fans are starting to question just how reliable a source Robert Kirkman is for accurate information. After all, some fans refer to the man as a troll (sometimes an affectionate term towards the Walking Dead creator, other times not so much) when it comes to announcing Walking Dead information and then immediately contradicting himself. So, is the August start date announcement even correct, or is it the greatest trick Robert Kirkman has pulled on his Walking Dead fans to date?

One Walking Dead fan in particular, Steven Goodman, questioned Robert Kirkman’s authenticity in this announcement on the Inquisitr’s article written about the Fear The Walking Dead start date by raising a very valid point.

So, is 60mm film even a thing? Sure there is certainly Super 16mm as he stated, there is even 70mm film which is used more commonly in movies and picture stills as well as IMAX 3D. However, even just doing a basic Google search for 60mm questions whether you mean 70mm film instead. But Steven said The Walking Dead is specifically shot on Super 16mm film. And, according to Kodak, the suppliers, yes, The Walking Dead is shot on Super 16mm. Or it was back in 2012 when AMC reached the 1,000,000 feet of film milestone. The Walking Dead cinematographer, David Boyd explains.

“When the images came back, everyone realized that Super 16 was the format that made everything look right. With the smaller gauge and the grain, suddenly the images seemed to derive from the graphic novel itself. Every image is a step removed from reality and a step deeper into cinema.”

Executive producer, Anne Gale Hurd, also backs this up in the following video when they were interviewed by the Producers Guild of America.

Kodak also has an interview from October 8, 2014 with The Walking Dead producer Tom Luse about the show’s continued use of Super 16. So, up until the close of Season 5, it appears The Walking Dead was still being shot on Super 16mm film.

Could it have been a typo then? After all, it would be very easy to accidentally type 60mm instead of 70mm and it be missed in the proofreading process if the editor didn’t know a lot about different types of film grades. Absolutely, this could have been a typo and as yet the Inquisitr is waiting to hear from the original interview source to find out if this is the case. To give the original source credit though, it is unlikely to hear a response back until after June 1, due to work commitments by the staff, so the Inquisitr will keep you in the loop in regards to how this unfolds. But, even if it were a typo, it still doesn’t change the fact The Walking Dead is shot on Super 16mm film.

Should Robert Kirkman know his film differences? Or is it just an honest mistake on his behalf? It was difficult to come across any interviews containing Robert Kirkman and any other crew members talking specifically about AMC’s use of Super 16mm for The Walking Dead, so one could assume Kirkman might not be in the know when it comes to exactly what sort of film is used to produce the TV series. However, he did come forward in the Fear The Walking Dead start date interview and state Fear The Walking Dead would be shot in a different format to The Walking Dead, to give it a different feel. This would indicate Robert knew something at least about the film types used between the two shows.

Which makes fans wonder if Robert Kirkman just gag announced the start date for Fear The Walking Dead instead. It wouldn’t be the first time Kirkman has done something similar either.

Lets have a look at some of Robert Kirkman’s other great fan scaring Walking Dead statements:

• That time Robert Kirkman debunked the Rick coma myth – or did he?

Going on record to answer this: http://t.co/3lhUI6A3bW Rick is NOT still in a coma. The events of TWD are definitely happening.

— Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) October 24, 2014

And then followed up with a tweet.

But Carl and everyone else are all imagined. He actually NEVER found his family. He’s been crazy since he killed his first zombie. #joking? — Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) October 24, 2014

• That moment when Robert Kirkman threatened to kill off Daryl Dixon (played by fan favorite, Norman Reedus).

• That moment when Robert Kirkman told Uproxx Rick Grimes wasn’t safe in The Walking Dead.

• That time Robert Kirkman gave a “fake” spoiler about Glenn when being interviewed on Comedy Central’s Show, Midnight – except it totally happened in the comics and so everyone thought Glenn was going to die in Season 5.

“Eventually a character named Negan is introduced, and he’s going to bash in Glenn’s brains with a baseball bat called Lucille.”

As stated at the start of the article, Robert Kirkman took to Twitter to clarify what was said in his original interview. As you can see, it was in fact a misquote on 16mm. Phew!

@mrszoomby @theinquisitr That whole article is based on someone misquoting “sixteen” to “sixty.” I said 16mm. No conspiracy.

— Robert Kirkman (@RobertKirkman) June 1, 2015

[Image credits: Inquisitr/Facebook screenshot / Getty Images/Frazer Harrison / Uproxx screenshot]